Therion

Formed during the late '80s, Swedish death metal band Therion was led by vocalist, guitarist, and composer Christofer Johnsson. Originally rounded out by lead guitarist Peter Hansson, bassist Erik Gustafson, and drummer Oskar Forss, the group debuted in 1990 with the LP Of Darkness. Gustafson exited soon after, and as a three-piece Therion returned in 1991 with Beyond Sanctorum. By 1993's Symphony Masses: Ho Drakon Ho Megas, only Johnsson remained from the original lineup, and he was now backed by guitarist Magnus Barthelson, bassist Andreas Wallan Wahl, and drummer Piotr Wawrzeniuk. The album marked the beginnings of a more experimental approach, with Johnsson incorporating more orchestrations and pseudo-classical aspirations, plus some industrial textures. Both Barthelson and Wahl were gone by 1995's The Beauty in Black EP, with the addition of bassist Fredrik Isaksson again returning Therion to a trio format. The same roster appeared on the full-length follow-up, Lepaca Kliffoth, which built on the experiments of Symphony Masses, but by 1996's Theli, Isaksson too had hit the road, making way for the arrival of guitarist Jonas Mellberg and bassist Lars Rosenberg. Theli was almost universally acclaimed as the apex of Therion's career to date, fully realizing Johnsson's taste for elaborate, operatic grandeur. Mellberg was absent for 1997's A'arab Zaraq Lucid Dreaming, and by the following year's Vovin, Johnsson was performing with an entirely new supporting unit consisting of second guitarist Tommy Eriksson, bassist Jan Kazda, and drummer Wolf Simons. Crowning of Atlantis followed in 1999 with the same personnel, but Johnsson jettisoned this lineup for early 2000's Deggial, recruiting guitarist Kristian Niemann, bassist Johan Niemann, and drummer Sami Karppinen. In 2001 Therion released Secret of the Runes, a conceptual piece that featured heavily orchestrated tracks, each representing one of the nine planes of Norse mythology. Live in Midgard arrived the following year, chronicling the band's 2001 tours of South America and Europe. Therion took the next year off and began work on their most ambitious project yet, Lemuria and Sirius B. Originally slated for release as two separate entities, the sprawling 21-track explosion of classical, choral, and heavy metal excess was released as a two-disc set in 2004. Therion continued the excess with the 2007 release of the two-disc Gothic Kabbalah on Nuclear Blast. ~ Jason Ankeny

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jlongz

What Therion needs to lose are listeners who just don't get it. Therion is pushing the boundaries of metal in their own way. What the big 4 did to Thrash Metal and Norway did to Black Metal Therion is doing to Symphonic Metal. Hands down the best at their game.

5 months ago

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alabastervillis0

lose the keyboards, lose the singer, lose the opera chicks in the background and maybe just maybe ud have a good metal band

Their first few albums were Of Darkness... Symphony Masses and Lepaca Kliffoth. All decent death metal. Still my fav is Secret of the Runes. But I think their best line up occured during the Gothic Kabbalah era.

@Zach Dewitt: Therion's original demos and early albums were in fact Death Metal (except for the one that was Doom Metal), making the initial sentence in that bio quite accurate. The problem is that it's extremely outdated, as Therion has long since abandoned any ties they might have to their Death Metal origins - they're generally recognized as the earliest pioneers of the modern Symphonic Metal sub-genre, and all their material on Pandora is from that period of their sound.

Sitra Ahra in two weeks....Kings of Edom and Sitra Ahra are excellent, Hellequin is cool as s**t...recommend picking up their live cd from the Mskolec (spelling) experience...band + orchestra but not like other groups..youtube.com has a lot of stuff if you don't want to wait for Pandora to cycle around to an actual Therion song

6 years ago

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maxhammer2005

Such symphonic power!! Theli is my fav. Sound is like Carl Orf Carmina Burana and Beethoven with Virgil Donati on drums.

Birth of Venus Illegitima, Uthark Runa and their Abba cover Summernight City are my favs. Plus the band is so musically gifted it seems they destroy the bands they support at those huge festivals - converting the masses.

Just gave Gothic Kabbalah a hardcore listen. Not bad ... interesting direction Therion is taking here. They are definitely still departing from their roots, which may upset some older fans. I think this album is much better in terms of keeping fresh and vibrant than Lemuria/Sirius B. L/S-B has some really good tracks, but as an album, I find it to be not Therion's best work.